The documents date from 1959 to 1985. This is the first time the earliest documents — those from 1959 to 1971 — have been made public.

The documents show that in many instances the files succeeded in keeping pedophiles out of Scouting, but many times they did not.

In Dallas, a 1987 letter to scout volunteer John McGrew suspends him from the organization. Seven months later, the former Dallas teacher receives a life sentence for molesting boys. He sits in state prison today.

Critics have deemed the confidential files fuel for child predators, using scouting as a cover.

Attorney Paul Mones addressed the significance of releasing the files in Thursday’s press conference. “They represent a body of knowledge that the Boy Scouts of America had that no other youth organization had at that time or since… Unfortunately, we know the lessons that still have to learn. The Sandusky case is an idle example. The way he operated is the same way many of these scout leaders operated.”

Boy Scout Youth Protection Director Michael Johnson, along with BSA President Wayne Perry acknowledged a pattern of keeping lists of troop leaders and volunteers tied to child sex abuse under an exclusive cloak of secrecy, known as “Ineligible Volunteer” files.